Nuit Blanche Toronto 2026: Art Across the City

20th Anniversary Edition

October 3 – 4, 2026 | 7pm – 7am
Free | Across Toronto
toronto.ca/NuitBlanche

Alexandra Gelis, In Water, Together, 2026. Image courtesy of Karolina Halatek.

Nuit Blanche’s 20th anniversary edition features new commissions and remounts of iconic past works Downtown and across the city.

Nuit Blanche returns next month for its 20th anniversary, transforming Toronto into a citywide exhibition of free contemporary art. From 7pm on Saturday, October 3 until 7am on Sunday, October 4, audiences can experience more than 70 projects by local, national and international artists, institutions and community partners.

This year’s theme Tomorrow’s Memories explores the ways memories are created, preserved, revisited and reimagined through art.

Revisiting two decades of unforgettable art

The anniversary edition revisits the festival’s history through a series of legacy projects by acclaimed artists whose works have helped define Nuit Blanche. Returning artists and projects offer audiences an opportunity to experience how artworks evolve, while reflecting on the event’s lasting cultural impact.

The event is anchored by an exhibition located downtown in and around Nathan Phillips Square, City Hall, and Old City Hall with re-imagined Nuit Blanche projects by artists from years past: Couzyn van Heuvelen, Shelley Niro, Kelly Mark, Brendan Fernandes, Hiba Abdallah, Rhonda Weppler and Trevor Mahovsky, R.I.S.E. Edutainment, Tangled Art + Disability, Roda Medhat.

New this year: Alexandra Gelis (pictured above), Maggy Hamel-Metsos, Brandon Vickerd, SJ Okemow, Francesca Nocera aka SUN SUN (curated by Witch Prophet), Marco Baldonado, ĀNANDAM/Brandy Leary, Blessyl Buan, Joseph David Providence Farrugia, Lisa Kiss & Collaborators and more.

Downtown and across the city, you will find clusters of Commissioned Projects, Independent Projects and Major Institutions in the neighbourhoods of Queen and Spadina, Queen West, Fort York/ Waterfront, Regent Park and North York.

Angelina Almanza and Komal Lally, Resonance, 2025. Photo: Maksym Chupov-Ryabtsev.

Downtown highlights include:

Rhonda Weppler & Trevor Mahovsky
The Museum of Lost Things

Weppler and Mahovsky’s Museum of Lost Things is an ongoing, iterative project where participants from New York, Calgary, and now Toronto turn personal stories of objects they have lost, given away, or used up into three-dimensional lanterns made of watercolour, beeswax and wire. Installed within the former Library of Justice at Old City Hall, this collection of glowing forms will be presented as an immersive environment. More info >

Brendan Fernandes
On Flashing Lights

On Flashing Lights (2026) transforms the underground parking garage at Toronto City Hall into a site of collective gathering, movement and reflection. A formation of police vehicles occupies the space, their flashing lights and pulsing rhythms setting the atmosphere for an evening of dance featuring guest DJ Shaun J. Wright (Chicago) alongside DJ Nino Brown and DJ Krishawn from Toronto’s queer, persons of colour (POC) DJ scene and communities. More info >

Shelley Niro
Blankets (Under) Cover, 2022

Point blankets have long symbolized prestige, wealth, and warmth across Canada. Historically, Indigenous hunters traded furs for these blankets—often under unfair terms—yet the practice endures in national memory. In this work, the artist uses the point blanket as an emblem of what binds Canada together. Thirteen blankets, one for each province and territory, are embellished with images of beavers, buffalo, moose, and other wildlife decimated through colonial economies. More info >

ĀNANDAM/Brandy Leary
colour/LINE I public/body

colour/LINE I public/body transforms public space into a large-scale choreographic environment of multi-channel video projection, sound, light and live movement. Inspired by the fleeting encounters that define Nuit Blanche, the installation invites audiences into a quiet, immersive atmosphere that is intimate, collective and dreamlike. More info >

ĀNANDAM/Brandy Leary, colour/LINE I public/body, 2026. Image courtesy of the artists.

Across the city, highlights include several projects clustered in neighbourhoods. Near Queen & Spadina, Shot List by Gregory Dekter presents simultaneous projections of discarded broadcast footage, creating an ambient portrait of Toronto’s past shaped by repetition, interruption and fragmentation. Night Market for a Future Garden by In-Situ Collaborative (Qingyun Lin, Ran Ai, and Zheming Cai) invites visitors to browse archival photographs, watch historic footage and encounter stories about the garden and the community that shaped it. At Fort York / the Waterfront, The Bentway is hosting four projects as a Major Institution: Make The World Go Round by Caitlin Taguibao, Public Trust by Paul Ramírez Jonas, Social Fabric: A Community Textile Activation by SHEEEP, and A Persistent Crossing by Stanzie Tooth. In Regent Park, The Silent Spring: The Thread of Memory by Saretta Khan explores memory and connection through a site-specific artistic experience. In North York, highlights include Networked Growth by Jordan Shaw, and materia prima at the Aga Khan Museum, extending beyond the downtown core and into communities across the city.

Nuit Blanche Toronto
Learn more about Nuit Blanche 2026 at toronto.ca/NuitBlanche, and follow on social media:

Facebook @nuitblancheTO
Instagram @nuitblancheto
X @nuitblancheTO

Accessibility: Learn more about Nuit Blanche 2026 accessibility.

Image Descriptions:
1. Photograph of an outdoor digital art installation featuring five tall vertical LED panels displaying a continuous high-resolution image of a flowing river with rocks and water reflections. Several people, including children, stand and interact in front of the brightly lit panels against a dark night background, highlighting the immersive and engaging nature of the exhibit.
2. Photograph of a person sitting on the floor in a dark room with illuminated abstract patterns projected on surrounding walls. The scene features high-contrast lighting with blue tones, emphasizing the silhouette of the person and the glowing, scattered white light spots.
3. Black and white photograph showing four people standing in a spacious, well-lit studio with arms extended in various poses. The group appears to be engaged in a coordinated dance, wearing casual, dark clothing against a plain white background.

Akimbo is a media partner of Nuit Blanche 2026.